H. R. 5084

One Hundred Third Congress

of the

United States of America

AT THE SECOND SESSION

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,

the twenty-fifth day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-four

An Act

To amend title 13, United States Code, to improve the accuracy of census address

lists, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of

the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Census Address List Improvement

Act of 1994’’.

SEC. 2. ADDRESS INFORMATION REVIEWED BY LOCAL GOVERNMENTS.

(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 1 of title 13, United States Code,

is amended by adding after section 15 the following new section:

‘‘§ 16. Address information reviewed by States and local

governments

‘‘(a) The Secretary, to assist efforts to ensure the accuracy

of censuses and surveys under this title, shall— ‘‘(1) publish standards defining the content and structure

of address information which States and local units of general

purpose government may submit to the Secretary to be used

in developing a national address list; ‘‘(2)(A) develop and publish a timetable for the Bureau

to receive, review, and respond to submissions of information

under paragraph (1) before the decennial census date; and ‘‘(B) provide for a response by the Bureau with respect

to such submissions in which the Bureau specifies its determinations regarding such information and the reasons for such

determinations; and

‘‘(3) be subject to the review process developed under section

3 of the Census Address List Improvement Act of 1994 relating

to responses pursuant to paragraph (2).

‘‘(b)(1) The Secretary—

‘‘(A) shall provide officials who are designated as census

liaisons by a local unit of general purpose government with

access to census address information for the purpose of verifying

the accuracy of the address information of the Bureau for

census and survey purposes; and

‘‘(B) together with such access, should provide an explanation of duties and obligations under this title.

‘‘(2) Access under paragraph (1) shall be limited to address

information concerning addresses within the local unit of general

purpose government represented by the census liaison or an adjacent local unit of general purpose government.
H. R. 5084—2

‘‘(3) The Bureau should respond to each recommendation made

by a census liaison concerning the accuracy of address information,

including the determination (and reasons therefor) of the Bureau

regarding each such recommendation.

‘‘(4) For the purposes of paragraph (1), in a case in which

a local unit of general purpose government is within another local

unit of general purpose government and is not independent of

the enclosing unit, the census liaison shall be designated by the

local unit of general purpose government which is within the enclosing local unit of general purpose government.

‘‘(5) A census liaison may not use information made available

under paragraph (1) for any purpose other than the purpose specified in paragraph (1).

‘‘(c) For the purposes of this section—

‘‘(1) the term ‘local unit of general purpose government’

has the meaning given such term by section 184(1) of this

title; and

‘‘(2) the term ‘State’ includes the District of Columbia,

the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the

Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Guam, the Virgin

Islands, and any other territory or possession of the United

States.’’.

(b) CONFIDENTIALITY.—Section 9(a) of such title is amended—

(1) by inserting ‘‘or local government census liaison,’’ after

‘‘thereof,’’; and

(2) by inserting ‘‘or 16’’ after ‘‘section 8’’.

(c) PENALTY.—Section 214 of such title is amended by inserting

‘‘or whoever, being or having been a census liaison within the

meaning of section 16 of this title,’’ after ‘‘title,’’ the second place

it appears.

(d) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections at the beginning of chapter 1 of such title is amended by inserting after the

item relating to section 15 the following:

‘‘16. Address information reviewed by local governments.’’.

SEC. 3. DEVELOPMENT OF APPEALS PROCESS BY ADMINISTRATOR OF

THE OFFICE OF INFORMATION AND REGULATORY AFFAIRS.

The Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory

Affairs, acting through the Chief Statistician and in consultation

with the Bureau of the Census, shall develop an appeals process

for those States and local units of general purpose government

which desire to appeal determinations of the Bureau of the Census

pursuant to section 16(a)(2) or (b)(3) of title 13, United States

Code. Appeals under such process shall be resolved before the

decennial census date. The Chief Statistician shall publish the

proposed appeals process for a period of public comment before

finalizing such process.

SEC. 4. AUTHORITY OF UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE TO SHARE

ADDRESS LISTS.

Section 412 of title 39, United States Code, is amended—

(1) by striking out ‘‘Except’’ and all that follows through ‘‘law,’’ and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘(a) Except as specifically

provided by subsection (b) or other law,’’; and

(2) by adding at the end the following:

‘‘(b) The Postal Service shall provide to the Secretary of Commerce for use by the Bureau of the Census such address informa-
H. R. 5084—3

tion, address-related information, and point of postal delivery

information, including postal delivery codes, as may be determined

by the Secretary to be appropriate for any census or survey being

conducted by the Bureau of the Census. The provision of such

information under this subsection shall be in accordance with such

mutually agreeable terms and conditions, including reimbursability,

as the Postal Service and the Secretary of Commerce shall deem

appropriate.’’.

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.